Head of IT Portfolio
Post Introduction
As our Head of IT Portfolio, you will lead on crafting, managing and delivering our overall IT Portfolio, managing a small team of change focussed colleagues, as well as third-party partners and suppliers to focus on the change aspects of IT. This is a great time to join Technology Services as we look to enhance and grow the services we offer as well as our team members, our tools, and the way we work. We are actively seeking new colleagues who, along with experience, will bring fresh ideas and new, unique perspectives to our team.
About the NCIs
The National Church Institutions comprise a wide variety of teams, professions and functions that support the mission and ministries of the Church of England in its vision to be a church, centred on Jesus Christ, for the whole nation - a church that is simpler, humbler, bolder.
The National Church Institutions comprise a wide variety of teams, professions and functions that support the mission and ministries of the Church of England in its vision to be a church, centred on Jesus Christ, for the whole nation - a church that is simpler, humbler, bolder.
We Include. You Belong
Our Belonging and Inclusion Strategy aims for everyone in the National Church Institutions (NCIs) to feel that they belong, and are valued for who they are and what they contribute. Together, our people contribute in different ways towards our common purpose, whichever NCI they work in and whatever their background.
Living out our values in all that we do, we:
- Strive for Excellence
- Show Compassion
- Respect others
- Collaborate
- Act with Integrity
We believe our commitment to belonging and inclusion fuels our progress and drives us forward. The NCIs are a safe, inclusive workplace for people of all backgrounds and walks of life. We welcome applications from people of all faiths and of no faith. We want to encourage applications from a diverse group of people who share our values. Even if you have never thought about working for us before, if you have the skills and experience we’re looking for then we would like to hear from you.
About the Department
Technology Services is a core, exciting and enjoyable department within the National Church Institutions (NCI’s). Supporting over 900 people, we are focussed on ensuring all our colleagues work in a modern, inclusive, and secure environment, today and to provide even greater services in the future.
What you'll be doing
Within Technology Services, we recognise that it is our people who are our greatest asset in delivering the best-in-class service we continuously aim for. The purpose of this role is to craft, manage and deliver our overall IT Portfolio. In this role, managing a small team of change focussed colleagues, as well as third-party partners and suppliers, you will focus on the change aspects of IT. You will support the lifecycle of the portfolio, setting and leading standards, identifying opportunities to improve, and measuring and celebrating success.
You should feel comfortable communicating and working alongside all levels of people throughout the National Church Institutions (NCI’s), in particular, senior leaders and stakeholders. This will include regular written communications, face to face and hybrid meetings and presentations.
Main duties and responsibilities
Portfolio Leadership
- Developing and ongoing ownership of the IT Portfolio for Technology Services. Managing in line with best practice, including portfolio prioritisation, planning and project management, benefits realisation, portfolio risk and dependency management.
- Implementing and championing standards and best practice for project delivery across Technology Services, ensuring that all IT projects adhere correctly.
- Communicating the current state of the IT Portfolio, celebrating successes, and escalating when necessary to ensure smooth and continuous delivery.
- Engaging and collaborating with the central NCI PMO, and other portfolio and change functions across the NCI’s to ensure successful design and delivery of the IT Portfolio,
- Creating and feeding into Business Cases, Board Reports and other key Portfolio artefacts and presenting them as appropriate.
- Managing certain projects or programmes, where appropriate, given their nature or scale.
Team Management
- Managing and motivating a small team of focussed change agents, currently including a Project Manager, a Business Analyst, and a Modern Workplace technical specialist, in line with the standards for line management within the NCI’s.
- Managing and motivating project team members who could report to other parts of Technology Services, or other NCI’s as appropriate.
IT Leadership
- Engaging in overall Technology Services Leadership. Participating in Leadership ceremonies and activities, feeling comfortable to backup peers in other teams within Technology services, and standing in for the Director of Technology as required.
Application Leadership
- Managing and guiding the estate of Software Applications within the NCI’s.
- Identifying opportunities to simplify the estate of Software Applications.
- Maintaining a relationship with key third party partners for software development and support purposes.
- Ensure all Change Approvals are well governed following an agreed Change Approval Process.
About You
The Church of England is for everyone and we want to reflect the diversity of the community the Church serves across the whole country. Therefore, while of course we welcome all applications from interested and suitably experienced people, we would particularly welcome applicants from UK Minoritised Ethnicities (UKME)/Global Majority Heritage (GMH) and other under-represented groups.
Essential
Knowledge/Experience
- Experienced as Head of IT Portfolio, or in a related senior Portfolio or Programme Management position.
- Experienced in prioritisation, including agreements of criteria, weightings and pipelines.
- Knowledge of project management and familiarity with delivery approaches (for example, PRINCE2, PMI, Agile approaches)
- Knowledge of project planning/scheduling tools (for example, Microsoft Project), with a solid track record of practical application.
Skills & Abilities:
- Distinctive blend of business, IT, financial and communication skills. This blend is important because of the wide variety of stakeholders and interested parties.
- Exceptional organisation and management skills.
- Proven ability to provide leadership, set strategic objectives, develop and motivate teams to deliver results across formal reporting lines.
- Strong verbal and written communication skills; expertise in setting and managing customer expectations.
- Ability to support a tactical resource plan by mapping future demand to forecast project completions in the project portfolio.
- Having an interest and aptitude for developing staff.
Desirable
- Knowledge/Experience of the Not For Profit/Charity sector
- Background in complex, highly regulated industries
- Able to define and deliver successful formal training
- Experience of managing User Acceptance Testing
- Experience in Business Analysis
- Professional certification in project, programme and agile methodologies
What we offer
Our benefits include:
- A salary of £75,000 per annum plus age-related pension contributions between 8-15% of salary. We will also match any pension contributions you make up to an additional 3% of salary.
- 30 days annual leave plus three additional days
- Flexible working hours and location, with an expectation of just 1-2 days per week in our office in Westminster
- Structured induction programme and access to a range of development opportunities including apprenticeships
- Access to Occupational Health, and an Employee Assistance Programme
- Opportunity to the Civil Service Sports & Social Club, and get involved in a range of staff networks, groups and societies
We try to be as flexible as we can in your work pattern to support you with other commitments, and to give a good work-life balance.
Attached documents
Overview
